The Naming
by Pax the hamster
Summary: Complete::The naming of the Flock, with other snapshots of their childhood.
1. The beginning

Max looked at the two boys next to her. They were about her age, which was only four. For the longest time, Max had only had herself and a dark skinned little baby for company. Then these two boys were brought here. Suddenly, she realized.

"Hey! You've got wings too!" She folded out her own wings, and said, "So do me and the baby- just so you know, she screams. A lot." The two boys didn't say anything, just nodded. "So…. What are your names? Mine's Maximum, cause I'm the best."

"We dunno." Finally, one of them, the blond, spoke.

"Well, you gotta have names. What do you like?"

The blond grinned, very maniacally. "Fire."

"'K, so… matches, flame? What was that word? I heard one of the white coats say that this one lab… ignited! That was it."

"I did that! So, am I Ignite?

"That sounds dumb. How about Ig?"

"Iggy. I like it."

"SO what about that guy? Does he ever talk? Can he?

"I can. Don't wanna."

"Okay, so you can talk. What do you like?"

"Smudge!"

"Did the baby just…talk?

"She wants to be called Smudge. You know, her wings are a little smudgy."

"Smudge sounds like a dog's name."

"Okay, Fudge? Sludge? Mudge..."

"Nudge."

"Okay, Nudge. So what do YOU like," addressing the silent boy again.

"Dang!"

"That baby's gonna get real annoying real fast."

"Dang, sang, fang, BANG."

"YOU will get annoying really fast."

"Wha, what was that?"

"You talked! I said bang."

"No, fang. I like that."

And so the flock began. Six (the others came later) brothers and sisters, not connected by blood, but by years of shared memories. From their naming onward, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, and Max, were inseparable.


	2. The rest

These first four members of the flock grew up together through five years of torture, from mad scientists called whitecoats. Pitched battles against Erasers, so dubbed because of their all-destructive nature; races over hot floors-so hot that they were forced to fly; and one especially torturous experiment.

The whitecoats had decided that wings were not enough in their avian-human ratio. The children were to have enhanced raptor vision via surgery. To three of the children, this turned out to be a major plus- no one could sneak up on them anymore. For Iggy, however, something went drastically wrong. At one vital moment, the surgeon's hand slipped, and Iggy was left without any sight, forever.

Aside from that tragedy, only three things changed, and all three were additions to the flock.

The first came by the name of Jeb, and was a rather unexpected ally. He was a whitecoat, but one who wanted proper treatment for the flock. Bigger enclosures, more and better food, clothes, toys, and books. He was a father figure who they all looked up to and admired.

The other two came together, a brother and sister with snow-white wings, aged three and one respectively. They came after the dates that Max and Fang had chosen as their 9th birthdays, before Iggy's, and also before Nudge's 7th. Remembering what had happened at their first meeting, Max and Fang immediately began considering names. Iggy's first reaction was to reach over and touch them, remembering the feel of their skin and feathers. That was his way of identifying people now. Nudge, of course, began babbling.

"Oh gosh, look at how cut they are! Look at how tiny they are!Was I that tiny before? Was I ever that cute? Was—"

"Nudge." She stopped as soon as she heard Fang. You didn't cross Fang.

"Yes, Nudge, you were that small and just as cute at that age," Max said, answering the initial question.

"What color are her wings?" Iggy was asking. "Are they white? If they are, I want to call her Angel. That feels right."

"Angel. It Fits. Yeah, they're white. So are her brothers."

Just then, there was a quiet noise, and I terrible stench filled the room as the little boy giggled.

The four older children stared at each other, then Nudge giggled, "Right, I'm calling him the Gasman."

Max protested, "Come on, Nudge, he has to have a normal name."

"Just like the rest of us have normal names, right, Maximum?"

"Right Fang….Dang it! Don't do that!" Max exclaimed while Nudge and Iggy snickered.

"Besides, Gasman fits." Fang ended his longest conversation to date.

And so was named the last of the flock… for a while.

**A/N—I like this chapter a lot better. The ending is lame, though.**

**Pax out!**


End file.
